AKERCOCKE ****
Renaissance In Extremis (Peaceville)
Reinvigorated, refocused and back home on Peaceville Records, London’s Akercocke return after a five-year hiatus, with the best slab of prog-influenced death/black metal since their debut album back in 1999. With the return of original guitarist Paul Scanlan, Renaissance In Extremis will remind fans why they fell in love with the band in the first place and should see the band return to their rightful place as kings of the genre. CA
BLACK GRAPE ***
Pop Voodoo (UMC)
Brand new music from Shaun Ryder and co, Black Grape’s first new material in 20 years. Album opener Everything You Know Is Wrong is an impressive statement of intent, Ryder’s lyrical wit sitting prominent with a blatant dig or two at Donald Trump. You get a clear sign of togetherness from this album. The band confessed to having a “great time making the album,” while Kermit, the other half of Black Grape, describes Pop Voodoo as “me and Shaun eyeball to eyeball.” OS
BRIAN ENO
Reissues (UMC/Virgin EMI)
Reissues, specifically, of the four post-Roxy Music, pre-background music LPs by the then-mullet-sporting Eno: controlled explosions of glam rock into avant-garde that made his reputation as a master of the recording studio. Released between 1974 and 1977, his solo debut Here Come The Warm Jets (1974 *****) deserves its place in the protopunk canon thanks to punchy songs like Blank Frank and Baby’s On Fire, while Cindy Tells Me is a beatific Beatles homage.
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974 ****) was the first album created using Eno’s patented Oblique Strategies cards (which are frankly far too mad to try and explain here); Phil Collins is enlisted as drummer, an oblique strategy indeed, and overall it’s more instrumentally ornate, although still with room for keyboard-driven rollickers like Mother Whale Eyeless. Another Green World (1975 **** – pop auteurs had a serious workrate back then) is where Eno’s lowkey ambient explorations begin to take, tracks like In Dark Trees and Becalmed driven by nocturnal synth pulses. After which we move into his tenure as a Bowie producer: Before And After Science (1977 *****) was created concurrently with Heroes and Low, and boasts Roxy-ish fop stomps (Backwater), wild Dadaist cut-up pop (Kurt’s Rejoinder) and slowcore 15 years ahead of that term (Julie With). These editions are all 45rpm double vinyl pressings, and while Buzz wasn’t important enough to get sent those I’m very grateful for these LPs’ mere existence. NG
CAMILLE **
OUï (Because)
Camille, occasional guest of Nouvelle Vague, is unlikely to follow Christine And The Queens into the mainstream, with her fifth, predominantly French-language, album at odds with a monolingual Britain. Le Fontaine Du Lait is the standout, oscillating Moog combining well with vocal-driven rhythms; the madrigal is also modernised on Je Mene Les Loups. English-language Seeds could soundtrack the ‘will they/won’t they’ segment of a romcom, but other than that, sanctimoniousness constrains the album, with Camille shouting to make herself heard on the daft Twix. CS
EARL *****
Tongue Tied (BMG)
Snazzy and sassy new work from Caro… hey, this isn’t the Dutch diva. No matter. Singer-songstress Kate’s going by just her surname now. A jazz baby in her latest incarnation, she‘s having lustful fun, especially on the wowza title-track. Sizzling on everything, including the chanteuse-y In Love And War and addictive, Paloma Faith co-penned Smoke Rings, Earl also channels Adele and Amy and incorporates big band/swing, dub, gospel, gypsy, soul, techno and trad in this lollipop, all-day sucker. RLR
ETHAN GRUSKA ****
Slowmotionary (Sire)
Awful album title aside, Ethan Gruska’s debut is a convincing first foray into singer songwriter-ville. His voice is strong, despite it’s light vulnerability, and it is his individual timbre and phrasing that ties the album together. Refreshingly, Slowmotionary doesn’t give you the same song again and again and with only two tracks coming in over three minutes, no song overstays it’s welcome. The observational lyrics and delicate piano conjure up some of Randy Newman’s more intimate moments. A promising start. JPD
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING ***
A Fever Dream (RCA)
Despite a rather understated title track, the subtle art-pop of Good Shot, Good Soldier and the vague social commentary of Ivory Tower bring enough lustre to an album that veers at times between glacially-paced, often moribund, balladry and gratuitous bombast in the form of Muse-like Desire. And whilst not proving much of a departure from the quartet’s track record of slightly kooky synth-pop wizardry, the Mancunian outfit return with enough gusto and sense of momentum to placate seasoned fans. CHP
FRANKIE ROSE ****
Cage Tropical (Slumberland/Grey Market)
Frankie Rose takes her 80s influences to a whole new level in this new, introspective, but ultimately upbeat album. The guitars are still there, drenched in expansive effects and surrounded by classic synth sounds. The harmony and double-tracked vocals are just as heavily processed as the instruments. But the heavy production work somehow lifts the lyrical themes of loss and waste above the personal and potentially self-indulgent to something more optimistic and universal. JPD
GHOSTPOET *****
Dark Days & Canapes (PIAS)
Good things come in threes: there is Naomi Klein’s empowering book No Is Not Enough, U2’s remarkably moving Joshua Tree gigs and a new album from Obaru Ejimiwe aka Ghostpoet. Dark Days & Canapes marries Ghostpoet’s verbal reportage with a gothic, guitar-driven electronic backdrop. Difficult subjects like immigration and mental health are tackled head-on; Dark Days is Ghostpoet’s most personal work yet, and is as equally as important as anything Linton Kwesi Johnson or Gil Scott-Heron made. DH
GIRL RAY ****
Earl Grey (Moshi Moshi)
This young trio come four piece confirm their promise, with modernised C86 style hits and curiosities, on this debut. Just Like That has a Velvets meets glam rock chugalug with a breathless earworm chorus, while the piano-driven Stupid Things is like a lovelorn Ben Folds meets Shirelles with a dash of SFA tropicalia. Though side two sags a bit, the raw yearning love on this album – see the post-breakup A Few Months – will have you taking them to heart, warts’n’all. CS
LAL & MIKE WATERSON ****
Bright Phoebus (Domino)
Iconic British folk family the Watersons were consistently popular in the 1960s and 70s – yet this 1973 LP by two of the brood tanked on release, never properly reissued until now. Puzzling, as it marries their broad Yorkshire traditionalism to post-Pentangle jazzy excursions in fine style. Rubber Band, a Beatles-esque novelty number, is a red herring opener: the album is replete with dark imagery and a powerful performance from both siblings. Several Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span members lend their talents, to boot. NG
ÓLAFUR ARNALDS ****
Eulogy For Evolution 2017 (Erased Tapes)
Eulogy For Evolution 2017 is a remastered version of Ólafur Arnalds’ sublime debut, released in enhanced form to commemorate the record’s 10th anniversary. Taking it in now, it’s breathtaking to think that a teenager could have delivered such an expansive and mature work. It’s a powerful piece, inspired by the death of a grandparent in close proximity to the birth of a new member of the family, with an emotional heft and depth worthy of the time Arnalds and fellow composer Nils Frahm have put into remastering it. HR
PAUL DRAPER ***
Spooky Action (Kscope)
I love Mansun, and was genuinely excited about this solo debut from Paul Draper. Sonically it’s a natural progression from Little Kix and Kleptomania, a bit heavier, a bit synthier – and frontloaded with some strong songs. But I miss the quirky British humour of …Grey Lantern, and the batshit experimentalism and self-aware pretentiousness of Six. Too much here feels slightly generic, a little overproduced and jammy to cover up a mostly weak second half. Ah well, life is a compromise anyway. APR
SUPER FURRY ANIMALS *****
Radiator (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (BMG)
The second and possibly most loved album by the Super Furry Animals has undergone some remastering wizardry for its 20th birthday. It sounded full and exciting the first time round, but the work of Donal Whelan has brought new sonic details to the fore. But that’s not all: super sound archivist Kliph Scurlock has painstakingly trawled through the master archives and unearthed B-sides, demos and early incarnations of the album tracks that will set SFA completists’ hearts racing. GT
VARIOUS ****
Benjamin Mason: I Asked My Friends To Cover My Songs And This Is What They Came Up With (self-released)
Interesting project this: amid penning some new tunes, singer-songwriter Benjamin Mason has opened his back catalogue up to other musicians to cover his songs in new and interesting ways. For the most part, it works well – double submissions from Ian Thistlethwaite and Pulco are the most accomplished and the closer from Jodie Marie is an understated joy. With proceeds going to brain tumour research charity Thorne Mason Trust, this is a DIY indie-folk album with heart. BG
VARIOUS
Noise Reduction System (Cherry Red)
A companion, or follow-up, to last year’s eye-opening Close To The Noise Floor, Cherry Red stick with a near-foolproof formula for the benefit of obscuro dabbler coattail riders like, clearly, me. The previous volume compiled four CDs of British electronic music from the mid-70s to mid-80s, mostly bedroom oddballs on primitive synths but with a few household names peppered in. Noise Reduction System is the same thing, but covering the rest of Europe.
So if you’ve read even this far, you’ve probably heard of Vangelis and Yello; perhaps Front 242, DAF and Cluster too. All feature on this collection, and are but the topsoil in a field of great acreage and greater fertility: herein sits exciting proto-dance music, moody industrial tinkering, rhythms assembled in arrhythmic ways, dreamy droney sweeps of keyboard, things that only came out on private cassettes and a song about then-extant pro-paedophile activist group P.I.E. (by Spain’s Esplendor Geometrico). Groovy Euro freakouts galore here, but waverers are pointed YouTubewards to Christina Kubisch’s Speak And Spell, Ruth’s Polaroid/Roman/Photo, Ericka Irganon’s Petite Otite, Klaus Schulze’s 1984, Gunner Møller Pedersen’s Stoned and Das Ding’s Raid for starters. NG
WRONGTOM MEETS THE RAGGA TWINS ****
In Dub (Tru Thoughts)
A real lobbying for the rejuvenation of traditional dubby sound continues from Wrongtom, as he re-works the previously released In Time accompanied by the Ragga Twins’ sometimes experimental vocals. At the album’s core there is a to and fro between orthodox dub (GSCE In Dub, Dub Thriller) and tracks that seem to have been produced in a reggae bar from Bladerunner (Dub Capacitor, Hard Dub). The two marry (in the presence of Selassie himself) most notably on Illegal Dub. CP